This patent application is related to a U.S. Patent Application filed on Sep. 11, 2002 and entitled xe2x80x9cELECTRONIC CARD CONNECTOR HAVING POWER CONTACTSxe2x80x9d which was invented by the same inventor as this patent application and assigned to the same assignee with this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic card connector, and particularly to an electronic card connector having conductive shell covering top and bottom surfaces of an insulating housing thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic card connectors are widely used in electronic products, such as personal computers, for electrically connecting with electronic cards which function as removable mass storage devices. A conventional electronic card connector generally comprises a pair of parallel guiding arms, a head portion located between the guiding arms, and a plurality of contacts retained in the head portion for electrically connecting with an inserted electronic card and a mother board on which the electronic card connector is seated. However, with the high speed signal transmission of the electronic card connectors, grounding reference and electromagnetic interference may become a serious problem.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,247, 5,478,260, 5,470,259 and 5,399,105 each disclose a conductive shell to solve the above-mentioned problem.
Conductive shells disclosed in the ""247 and ""260 patents are identical in structure. Each shell includes a top plate enclosing a top of an electrical connector, contact spring fingers extending from an edge of the top plate to electrically engage a conductive outer surface of a memory card that is mated to the electrical connector. Furthermore, each shell is arranged to be electrically connected to ground circuitry on a mother board.
A conductive shell disclosed in the ""259 patent is used with an electrical connector having terminals with surface mountable contact sections for electrically engaging circuitry on a mother board. The shell includes a plate-like body having first and second portions. The first portion is adapted to be disposed on a top face of an insulating housing. The second portion is configured to extend over the surface mountable contact sections when the shell is disposed on the housing. The second portion defines at least one elongated aperture extending therethrough proximate the surface mountable contact sections. The aperture permits sufficient heat generated during the soldering process to reach contact pads on the mother board to melt the solder thereby assuring a reliable electrical engagement between the surface mountable contact sections and the mother board.
A conductive shell disclosed in the ""105 patent is used for two vertically stacked electrical connectors. The shell includes a first plate separating the two connectors and a second plate spaced from and parallel to the first plate. Contact spring fingers extend from edges of each of the first and second plates to electrically engage outer conductive surfaces of two memory cards.
Electrical performance of the electronic card connector is improved in a certain extent by the use of such shells disclosed in the above references. However, each shell only includes a top plate enclosing a top of the connector while a bottom of the connector is still exposed out of the shell, whereby the electromagnetic interference of the electrical connector cannot be effectively reduced. Furthermore, when the electronic card connector is required to transmit power, an insulating housing of the connector must be properly configured to arrange power contacts. Thus, a newly designed conductive shield must be provided to enclose the insulating housing for ensuring a good electrical performance of the electronic card connector.
Hence, an electronic card connector having an improved conductive shield is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic card connector having conductive shield enclosing both top and bottom surfaces of the connector for ensuring a good electrical performance thereof.
In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulating housing having a head section and a pair of guiding arms extending rearwardly from opposite ends of the head section for guiding the insertion of an electronic card, a plurality of signal and power contacts retained in the head section for being soldered to conductive pads on the electronic card and a conductive shield enclosing the housing. The conductive shield includes first and second plates mechanically connected with each other and respectively covering top and bottom surfaces of the insulating housing. The signal and power contacts have solder tails extending rearwardly beyond a rear edge of the first and second plates for permitting the sufficient heat generated during the soldering process to reach the contact pads on the electronic card to melt the solder, thereby ensuring a reliable electrical connection between the electrical connector and the electronic card. The first and second plates have grounding tails for electrically connecting to the electronic card.